Posted on December 27 2022

What Canada PR resident can or cannot do?

By
Anshul Singhal
, Editor

Updated March 27 2024

Why choose Canada PR?

Travel to 173 countries without a visa using a Canadian passport
Free education for Children
Avail world-class healthcare and retirement benefits
Study, Live, and work in any Canadian Province or Territory
4,65,000 might receive Canada PR in 2023
Apply for Canadian citizenship in future

Canada Permanent Residency

A Permanent residency in Canada is called a status that is granted to a foreign immigrant in Canada or not a citizen of Canada. The status comprises of right to live anywhere in Canada and study and work in the country without having any time limitations on the stay. Permanent residents are citizens from other countries.
An individual in Canada temporarily like a foreign worker or a student is not a permanent student.
To obtain Permanent residency status, a foreign national needs to apply for any of the immigration programs given by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). The PR card is used to show permanent resident status in Canada.
If you travel out of Canada, you need to provide your card and passport when you come back on a bus, train, boat, commercial vehicle, or airplane. Permanent residents who are traveling out of Canada who does not have a valid PR or forget to carry it must have to apply for a permanent resident travel document before traveling out of Canada.
The applicants not just get the benefit of having a home in Canada as a permanent resident, but also gets eligibility to apply for citizenship of Canada after a period of Permanent residency ship.

*Check your eligibility for Canada with Y-Axis Overseas immigration points calculator

Canada PRs Can Do Vs. Canada PRs Can't Do

There are many rights for permanent residents like citizens, only there are a few that a PR cannot do.

Canada PRs can do	Canada PRs can’t do
Canada PRs can get the most of the social benefits that a Canadian citizen will receive.	Vote or run for Political office
Canada PRs can get benefited with best in class healthcare coverage	Hold some jobs which need a high-level security clearance
Study, work, and live anywhere in Canada	N/A
Can apply for Canadian citizenship	N/A
Protection under Canadian law and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms	N/A

Validity of Canada PR visa

Canada’s permanent resident visa is known as a multi-entry visa. This gives skilled foreign workers a chance or opportunity to work and settle in Canada.
To maintain permanent resident status in Canada, the individual must be living in Canada for at least 730 days in the country in the last five years.
For these 730 days the individual need not stay continuous, they can stay abroad for some time and that will also count.
These 730 days stay permits to change the PR status of Canada to Citizens of Canada, after living for 3 years of either stay or work on a PR card.

To help you track your time in Canada, use a travel journal. Other ways to know how long you’ve been in Canada:

Ask a Canadian border officer when you enter Canada.
Apply for or renew your PR card. We will tell you if you’re eligible.

What if lose your permanent resident status?

You will not lose your permanent resident status when your PR card lapses. You will lose your PR status only when you are going through any official process.

Scenarios you lose your permanent resident status:

If a legal person determines that you are no longer a permanent resident after a PRTD appeal or an inquiry.
You intentionally renounce your PR status.
A dismissal is made on you and that comes into force.
If you become a citizen of Canada.
Even though you have obtained your PR card, and you have not qualified for the residency obligation, or an official decision has not been made on your stays, you are still a PR

How can I renew my Canada PR visa?

It takes around 45 days to receive a new PR card whereas to receive a renewed PR card it takes around 104 days.

How to renew a PR card?

A new Permanent resident card can be applied if the card is expired or is about to expire in less than 9 months. The new PR card will come with a new expiration date. Usually, most of the new PR cards are valid for at least 5 years.

Note: If the PR card is not ready before leaving for Canada or if you are not present in Canada without having a valid PR card, then you have to apply for a Permanent Resident Travel document (PRTD). When you return to Canada, apply for a PR card.

Steps to renew or replace a PR card

Following are the steps to apply for a new PR card or renew your PR card. Check out, if you are eligible for Permanent Resident status or Canadian Citizenship or not. Follow the following steps to apply for the renewal of your PR card.

Acquire the application package

This step states that you need to get all the forms that you need to complete to apply for obtaining a PR card.
Include a photocopy of the current PR card for renewal.
Attach a valid passport copy which you had during the time you have become a Permanent Resident.
Go through the guide that comes with the forms for the PR card and gather the mandated documents according to the documents checklist.
A declaration letter, if you have lost your PR card, destroyed or you did not receive it in 180 days after immigrating to Canada.

Pay the required application fees

Pay the PR card application fee online as per the requirement given.

Application Submission

After filling in all the necessary information and uploading the mandatory documents. Go through once if you have missed any.

Answer all the questions that are mentioned in the form.
Sign on the application forms
Attach the receipt of payment
Attach all the required documents
Submit the application form

Note: If any document is missing, then your renewal application will get rejected and you will have to submit a new application.

*Want to work in Canada? Get assistance from an expert, Y-Axis overseas immigration consultant

Also read…

Sean Fraser reports, ‘A new pathway to Canada PR for undocumented migrants’

How to get maintained status in Canada?

Canada PR to Canada Citizenship

To be eligible for Canadian citizenship, you need to be:

Be a PR
Lived in the country for at least 3 years in the last five years
If you were supposed to, must have done tax filings
Passed the citizenship test
Provide language ability test skills

The additional requirements for Canadian citizenship are:

Applying citizenship for a minor who is under the age of 18 years
A Canadian citizen applying for citizenship for their adopted child born in non-Canada
A former/current Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) member applying for citizenship under fast track process.
A former Canadian citizen who is willing to get back his/her Canadian citizenship.

Canadian citizen Spouses

Spouses of any Canadian citizen do not become a citizen automatically when they marry a citizen. They need to meet all the requirements listed above.

Canadian citizen’s children & Grandchildren

If the children have a Canadian parent or a Canadian grandparent who is a Canadian citizen, then there are possibilities of becoming citizens. To make sure, apply for the certificate of Canadian citizenship.

Also read…

Canada will welcome a record number of immigrants through family sponsorship programs

Permanent resident status

Irrespective of your age, to apply for citizenship, you need to be Canadian Permanent Resident Status.

This means that:

You should not be under review for any immigration or fraud reasons
Be no removal order in your name or Canadian officials asked to leave Canada
No unfulfilled conditions must exist related to your PR status like medical screening etc.
Always review the documents that you have received as a permanent resident, just to make sure you are eligible for applying for citizenship.
You need not have a valid Permanent Resident card for applying to Canadian citizenship, you can even apply with a date lapsed PR card.

The time you lived or were physically present in Canada

The individual who is applying for citizenship even if it is minor must have been physically present in Canada for at least 3 years which is around 1,095 days.

The immigration authorities encourage individuals to apply with more than 3 years of living in Canada, to avoid last-minute calculation problems.

How to calculate the time you spent in Canada?

The days you were in Canada as a Temporary resident or a protected person.

The days you were outside Canada if you were serving as a Crown servant or a member of a Crown Servant family.

Income tax filings

You need to file income taxes in Canada for a minimum of 3 years during the last 5 years before the date you apply.

Language skills

There are two official languages in Canada

English and,
French

If you are 18 – 54 years of age on the day you are applying for citizenship, you must provide proof that you know to listen and speak any of the languages at a specific level. And it should meet the CLB (Canadian Language Benchmarks) - Level 4.

Measuring your language skills in French or English includes:

Review the proof sent with the application
Noting down the communication you make with the citizenship official during the process
Evaluating your skills of language and their level during the communication with citizenship officials if needed.

Pass a citizenship test

If you are of age 18 – 54, on the day you sign your application form, then you must take the citizenship test. You must answer the questions related to the rights and responsibilities of Canadian citizens and various topics related to Canada.